Monsters University sees hundreds more critters inspired by nature

This article was taken from the August 2013 issue of Wired
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It's always the way with sequels: bigger, better, more. In the
case of Monsters
University, it's hundreds more. This prequel takes
Monsters, Inc's Mike and Sulley back to college with an army of
monsters of all shapes and sizes. "It was overwhelming at times,"
admits director Dan Scanlon.

So how abstract did Scanlon go in his creation of otherworldly
beasts? "We want these characters to look bizarre and original," he
says, "but we still want you to be able to relate to them."

Scanlon's team based most of their 400 critters on five basic
body types, including slugs and fungi. "And from that," he says, "they could stretch them
around, so out of each individual category they could make several
varieties of that species."

Scanlon enthuses the most about one-off characters such as Dean
Hardscrabble, who has a lizardy face and bat wings and was based on
a poisonous Peruvian centipede. They had one to study in meetings.
"It was kept in a plastic jar that looked like it had coleslaw in
it previously," laughs Scanlon. "I thought I'd walk into someone's
office one day and that thing would be missing. But it's safely
back home."